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The airport was first established as a temporary military airport during the Spanish Civil War, and remained open after the conflict for use as an emergency airport. In 1949 the site was used to operate some domestic and international tourist flights, but was then closed in 1951.

It was not until 1958 that work commenced to re-open the airport in reaction to the rapid development of the tourist market in the Balearic Islands, particularly in neighbouring Majorca. The airport was reopened on 1 April 1958 with the first destinations during that year including Palma, Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid.

The airport was expanded progressively over the subsequent decades with runway, taxiway, apron and terminal enhancements designed to cope with the growing air tourist market which by the late 1990s was generating over 3.6 million passengers a year at the airport.

In 2011 the airport provisionally handled over 5.6 million passengers and around 61,000 aircraft movements, an increase of 11.9% and 8.4% respectively compared with 2010.[1]